节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-04-25
难易度:Low
关键字:colony, pioneer, witness, carpenter, buff, Pilgrim, blacksmith, mock
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
We're glad you are joining us today.
We always have a lot to learn here at Studio Classroom.
And of course you are here because you want to learn English, and we can learn
in many ways.
One way we learn is by studying about the past.
Yes, we learn through history.
Have you ever learned from your mistakes?
Well, in the same way we can learn from the decisions people have made in
history.
Right, decisions that affected the whole world or entire nations.
In our lesson today we will be learning about some of America's early history
and specifically about a few key places.
So open your magazine to the article titled "Learn From the Past" and let's
begin.
(Music).
Learn From the Past.
A visit to living history.
If you're a history buff like my husband, you will enjoy the Historic Triangle
in Virginia.
Spring break was a good time to visit the area - Jamestown, Williamsburg and
Yorktown.
Jamestown, Virginia.
The first lasting English colony was established in Jamestown before the
Pilgrims landed in America.
Fighting against bad weather, hunger, disease and conflicts with Indians, the
early pioneers struggled to survive.
An introductory film gives details of the history.
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
Well, let's go back to the beginning.
Our title is "Learn From the Past."
And how can we learn from the past?
One way is by learning from your own past.
If you made a mistake in the past, you hope to learn from it and grow so that
you don't make that same mistake in the future.
That's right.
We do learn from our mistakes.
And that reminds me of a phrase: you live and learn.
That means that some things you just need to learn by making mistakes.
Often people say this to others who just made a mistake.
Right. Maybe someone is really upset because they did something wrong, you can
tell them "You live and learn," or "We live and learn."
It shows that you understand how it feels to have made a mistake but that we
need to not let our mistakes make us feel guilty forever.
Right. You live and learn.
Keep your eyes up.
Apply what you've learned and move forward.
And of course, try not to make the same mistake again.
Now I know it's not an official phrase, but I think maybe what's more correct
for me is "you live and you think you learn."
I think I see what you mean, Gabe.
We should learn from our mistakes, but sometimes we keep repeating those same
mistakes.
You live and you think you would learn, but you don't learn.
Well, of course you can learn from your own past, or you can learn from others'
or the history of an entire nation.
And that reminds me of a phrase.
It's not in your lesson, but the phrase is: history repeats itself.
Ah, history repeats itself.
Uh, thank you for repeating me, Gabe.
Basically what that means is anything going on in the world today has already
happened in history in some way.
And this phrase actually encourages us to understand history.
Why?
So that we don't make the same mistakes as people did in the past.
Hey, I think that phrase goes well with the title of today's lesson.
History repeats itself, so learn from the past.
Yeah. Well, the first thing we see written here is the phrase, "a visit to
living history."
Hmm, how can history be alive?
What is "living" history?
Ah, I think we're going to understand what this means as we get into our lesson.
There are many places in the world that have a strong sense of history to them.
When you visit, you can't avoid learning about the history of the place.
That's part of what "living history" means.
Well, are you a history buff?
We see the first sentence here says, "If you're a history buff like my husband,
you will enjoy the Historic Triangle in Virginia."
So if you're a buff of any subject, that means you know a lot about a subject
and get excited about it.
Of course, a "history buff" is someone who gets excited about history.
What other kinds of buffs are there?
Do you get excited about poetry?
Do you know many poems and get excited learning about the lives of poets?
Then you're a poetry buff.
Do you know a lot about films and the people working in them?
You're a film buff.
Or maybe you get excited about all the different kinds of birds out there.
You love learning about what makes each one unique, you are a bird buff.
I bet you can guess what kind of buff I am.
Oh, I know.
You are an animal buff.
Yeah, I love learning all about animals.
Now there are other words to describe people who get really excited about
certain things like food, but you can use the word "buff" with many subjects.
And our author Pauline is talking about how her husband is a history buff.
And if you are a history buff, then you, too, will enjoy the Historic Triangle
in Virginia.
Now without looking at the rest of the lesson, can you guess how many places are
involved in the Historic Triangle?
Um... one?
No.
Two.
No.
Hmm... four?
Three, Gabe. Three.
I missed that one!
A triangle has how many sides?
Oh, yeah! Three.
So the Historic Triangle in Virginia includes three main places.
Yes. And Pauline went there with her family during her kids' spring break.
And the communities are Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown.
We are going to learn about two of those places in this lesson.
So we start with Jamestown.
It's described as the place where the first lasting English colony was
established before the Pilgrims landed in America.
"Lasting" here means "permanent," so it was the first permanent colony.
And who were the Pilgrims?
They also came over from England to start a new life in America.
Now these pilgrims are also called the "Plymouth Colony Pilgrims" because that's
where they landed.
But are there other kinds of pilgrims?
Yes, there are. So keep your ears open for this word.
The word "pilgrim" has the meaning of someone who travels a long way and often
for a religious purpose.
Well, it wasn't easy living in Jamestown at first.
We read that the colony fought hard against bad weather, hunger, disease and had
conflicts with Indians.
Right. And of course nowadays we call Indians "Native Americans" because true
Indians are people from India.
But Native Americans were called "Indians" in America for a long time.
Well, in the second part of our lesson, we will see the words "blacksmith" and
"carpenter."
Let's join the guys in the Information Cloud now as they talk about some of
these names.
When foreigners study Chinese language and culture, they soon learn about the
(Chinese), or "100 Household Names."
Well, English has its own version of (Chinese), a list of the 100 most common
English surnames.
Can you guess which name is at the top of the list?
In England, the U.S. and Australia, the most common surname is "Smith."
People who have this last name, or had it, like Captain John Smith, surely had
some ancestors somewhere back in time that worked with metal, making things like
horseshoes, nails or even jewelry.
Of course many trade laborers took their occupation's title and made it their
surname, including carpenters.
But "Carpenter," unfortunately, didn't make the top 100 list.
Right now "Carpenter" is ranked at 189, so it's not officially an English
(Chinese).
The top 100 English surnames list is always changing.
Some surnames are pushed off as others are added.
You know, it's interesting to know that in the U.S. right now, Hispanic surnames
are muscling their way onto the list.
Two in particular, "Garcia" and "Rodriguez," are in the top 10.
They reflect the growing number of Hispanic people immigrating to the U.S.
(Chinese).